The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Latest scam: Medicare will give you a free DNA test kit in exchange for your personal information

Callers claiming to be from Medicare are asking people for their Medicare numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personal information in exchange for DNA test kits. The callers may say the test is a free way to get early diagnoses for diseases such as cancer, or why not take advantage of the free test. But, don’t be fooled. Medicare doesn’t give DNA testing kits to the public.

It’s another government imposter scam, said Lisa Lake, consumer education specialist for the Federal Trade Commission.

Before you give anyone your personal information, consider these tips to help avoid scams:

CVS-Aetna merger harmful to patients, consumer advocates tell the judge

Photo: JJBers

CVS-Aetna lawyers, consumer advocates, and health care organizations gathered Thursday in Washington, D.C., for oral arguments on whether the Department of Justice’s proposed final judgment in the CVS-Aetna merger is in the public interest. 

U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which filed a friend of the court brief with Consumer Action, called CVS’ claim that the merger would reduce prescription drug prices “absurd.”

“CVS is claiming the merger will simultaneously boost profits to investors and help save consumers money,” said Adam Garber, consumer watchdog for U.S. PIRG. “But without an impartial party holding the combined company accountable, it is more likely than not that instead prices will go up, to the detriment of patients.

Watch out for flood-damaged used vehicles in the Washington, D.C., area

With thousands of vehicles in a Monday storm, which released a month’s worth of rain in an hour, flood damaged vehicles in the Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area could run in the hundreds.

“While, hopefully, these vehicles will have their titles marked flood damaged and go to salvage yards, many will likely re-enter the market as used cars,” said Jack Gillis, the Consumer Federation of America’s executive director and author of “The Car Book.”

Because of the computerization, electronics, and sophisticated safety technology found in today’s vehicles, it’s critical that you avoid getting stuck with one of these lemons, Gillis said.

Debt settlement company agrees to pay $25 million in action by CFPB

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB announced the settlement of a lawsuit Tuesday it had brought against Freedom Debt Relief, the nation’s largest debt settlement company. The company agreed to pay $20 million in restitution to affected consumers and a $5 million civil penalty. The original suit was filed in November 2017 and an amended complaint filed in June 2018.

“I applaud the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau for taking action against Freedom Debt Relief,” said Andrew Pizor, attorney for the National Consumer Law Center. “It is especially important that the settlement included restitution for aggrieved consumers. Debt settlement and similar programs offered by companies like Freedom often do more harm than good and turn out to be a waste of money.”

Pizor said consumers should talk to their creditors directly and do their own debt settlement negotiations, or they should talk to a qualified consumer bankruptcy attorney.

Sloppy practices by student loan servicers create obstacles to repayment, consumer group says

U.S. Department of Education data show that nearly a quarter of the more than 43 million federal student loan borrowers are in trouble with their loan payments. These borrowers need high-quality, timely assistance, but, unfortunately, the student loan servicing industry has long been rife with misconduct, said Joanna K. Darcus, attorney for the National Consumer Law Center.

The consequences of servicers’ misconduct are significant and, at times, catastrophic for borrowers’ financial lives, Darcus said. Sloppy practices by servicers created obstacles to repayment, raised the costs of debt, caused distress, and ultimately contributed to driving struggling borrowers to default, according to an April 2017 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report based on student loan borrower complaints.

Specifically, many eligible borrowers aren’t enrolled in income-driven repayment or IDR plans despite clear benefits to the financial health of borrowers and their families. Instead, servicers steer many borrowers into forbearances and deferments, which are profitable for the servicer and costly to the borrower.

Carnival fined after admitting dumping garbage in the ocean, again

Princess Cruise Lines and its parent, Carnival Cruise Lines, were ordered to pay a $20 million criminal penalty Monday and will be under more supervision after admitting to violations of its probation related to dumping waste into the ocean.

Princess was convicted and sentenced in April 2017, after pleading guilty to felony charges after dumping oil-contaminated waste from one of its ships in the ocean and then covering it up. While serving five years of probation, all Carnival ships using U.S. ports were required to comply with an environmental compliance plan, including audits by an independent company and oversight by a court monitor. Many violations have been identified by the company, the outside auditor, and the court’s monitor during the first two years of probation, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Carnival admitted it was guilty of committing six violations of its probation. Two of the violations involved sending teams to ships to prepare them for inspections during probation. When the court found out about this in December 2017, a federal district court judge ordered that the practice to be stopped and additional inspections were ordered. However, a second program was started shortly after that. The purpose of the programs were to avoid adverse findings during the inspections.

Car loans causing financial hardships for Americans with limited transportation options

Auto lenders are taking advantage of Americans who need their cars to go to work or school and for shopping, trapping them into car loans with high interest rates and inflated costs, according to U.S. PIRG, a public interest organization.

A report, "Driving into Debt" by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, offers information on the hidden and risky costs of car ownership in the United States.

Today, Americans owe more than $1.2 trillion on car loans. And a significant share of that debt is owed by borrowers with lower credit scores, who are particularly vulnerable to predatory loans.

Do you pay hidden fees?

Every month as part of my Comcast TV package, I pay Comcast $10 for sports programs that I never watch. That’s $120 a year. It’s so irritating.

Most of the 3,480 Americans who wrote to Consumer Reports over the past 13 months, as part of the organization’s “What the Fee?!” campaign, are angry about the growing number of fees showing up on their bills.

More stories keep coming every day, said Anna Laitin, director of financial policy at Consumer Reports. “The stories show just how many fees people face, and how frustrating people find them.”

At least 85 percent of Americans have encountered an unexpected or hidden fee over the past two years for a service they’d used, according to a Consumer Reports survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults. And two-thirds of them say they’re paying more now in surprise charges than they did five years ago. Almost everyone – 96 percent – finds them annoying.

FTC top officials have conflicts of interest with tech and other corporations

Most top officials at the Federal Trade Commission become lawyers and lobbyists for major technology companies after they leave the agency or bring Silicon Valley conflicts with them when they arrive, a Public Citizen report found.

The report shows that most of these officials – 63 percent or 26 out of 41 – have revolving door conflicts of interest involving work on behalf of the technology sector. These conflicts help explain the FTC’s chronic reluctance to strictly enforce consumer protection and antitrust laws against Big Tech, Public Citizen, a public interest organization, said.

The FTC is charged with consumer protection and antitrust enforcement. In recent decades, the agency has taken a light approach to enforcement, especially against Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook, Google, and Uber.

Jury awards couple $2 billion in lawsuit against Roundup

For the third time in less than a year, a California jury issued a verdict against Bayer-Monsanto, finding that the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused cancer in a California couple and awarding them $2.055 billion in damages.

The jury in Alameda County Superior Court found on Monday that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was the cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in both Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, who have used the herbicide since the 1970s.

It’s the third trial since August 2018 in which a jury found that glyphosate caused cancer. More than 13,000 similar lawsuits have been filed against the company.